I am so honored to have guest author Denia Guadalupe Bradshaw share her research and experience on the blog! Denia is a doctoral candidate at California State University, Los Angeles. She is currently doing research on students with hidden disabilities in higher education, DisCrit, and inclusive teaching practices such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Her blog can be found at:
https://deniabradshaw.wixsite.com/pl2019/blog
In this guest blog post you will read about research during my doctoral candidacy around disability, higher education, community colleges, and capturing learners through UDL-informed practices. I mention how I embarked this journey around this work and make connections to other researchers, authors, theories, and initiatives that I feel to be noteworthy and relevant to my work and to the new directions and steps toward change.
I have been doing qualitative research around Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in higher education spaces. Having an “open door” policy, community colleges offer the opportunity for a postsecondary education to all despite varying and intersecting identities, backgrounds, abilities, test scores, socioeconomic statuses, experiences, and narratives to name a few. Undoubtedly, community colleges serve, educate, and grant opportunity to some of the most diverse populations. An excellent example is the California Community Colleges (CCC). The CCCs have 113 community colleges and is known to be the largest community college system in the country. Among community colleges and UDL, another element to my research are students with hidden dis/abilities. Before embarking on that research journey, let me clarify the “/” I included in the prior sentence and why I am passionate about this work.
Annamma, Connor, and Ferri (2013) intentionally include the “/” in “dis/ability.” As a researcher and young professional, I have also taken it upon myself to add that separation to further encourage the deconstruction of understandings of disability, which are also referred to as DisCrit and Dis/ability Critical Race Studies. DisCrit is a theoretical framework that merges facets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Disability Studies (DS). To add, Annamma et al. (2013) explain this “/” as a means to bring forth awareness to how “disability” signals a misconception that there is an inability to execute “culturally-expected tasks” that further define the individual as “unable to navigate society” (p. 24). Throughout my life, I have experienced these misconceptions and understandings of disability. Having endured different misconceptions and understandings as an English language learner and a first-generation student, my experiences with disability are with my youngest brother who was born with a developmental dis/ability. Truthfully, I did not fully understand the circumstances around dis/ability when I was younger and I am still learning and will continue to learn. Indubitably, I have been drawn to be an advocate for those with dis/abilities and will continue to be.
Based on my eleven interviews for my dissertation and my lifelong experience with my brother – students that have a disability that is not visible, are reluctant to self-identify, even to accommodation support services for fear of being considered incapable or different (Barber 2012; Bolourian, Zeedyk, & Blacher, 2018). In fact, several research subjects in my study described this “stigma” around disability. In an interview, a participant shared that a student at their institution that is hard of seeing had said,
People who have invisible disabilities […] there is so much stigma against people with those kinds of disabilities, like you know, [a] learning disability. “They’re not as smart” or mental health, “they’re not as stable.” My participant also shared, “for most sighted people, one of the things [that] we’re most afraid of is being in the dark … it was interesting to me that he says their invisible disability is more stigmatized.
If students are perceiving social environments as threatening, this lens of deficit thinking threatens connection which in turn threatens learning. Observing disadvantages, barriers, closed-mindedness, deficit-thinking throughout my life with my little brother, along with these described challenges being reiterated in the interviews I conducted, and the literature I read and wrote about – yes, things need to be deconstructed to a place of equity-mindedness, growth mindset, compassion, and an openness to reevaluation and change. Honestly, this is why I have chosen this work. It helps too, that my little brother is my inspiration and happens to be my favorite person.
Having every variety of humor, my little brother somehow always manages to bring laughter into the room. He is our “interesting facts” guy. Him and I have certainly and extensively “nerded” out over Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. He was born when I was about eight years old and I spent a lot of time looking after him when I was younger. During that time, I observed a lot of disadvantages and unfairness in his life. It angered me when he would share things that were said to him, cruel things like, “are you dumb?”. We all know that it is a lot easier to be angry than it is to be hurt. I have a few instances that are deeply imprinted in my memory and it has been a personal shift and objective for me to rechannel that energy into something more useful. Repurposed and hopeful, I am driven to continue this path in deconstructing the futile, deficit, and fixated lens of othering, dis/ability, and different.
The Center for Urban Education (CUE) in Los Angeles refers to “equity-mindedness” as “… the perspective or mode of thinking exhibited by practitioners who call attention to patterns of inequity …” Further outlining that these practitioners and institutions are willing to take responsibility and accountability for the success of their students by critically and continually reassessing their own practices (e.g. what is not working, assumptions, stereotypes) in order to affect change. CUE and CUE Director Estela Mara Bensimon state that “it also requires that practitioners are race-conscious and aware of the social and historical context of exclusionary practices in American Higher Education” (CUE, 2020).
Among that awareness of the exclusionary practices in higher education, are with institutions and practitioners that are “dis/ability-conscious.” There is visibility among inclusion and the removal of discrimination across identities such that of race and social class, yet disability continues to lack that visibility (Liasidou, 2014; Baynton, 2001). Honestly, it still irks me that people with disabilities were not fully protected by federal mandate until just about 30 years ago. Historically and to this day, dis/ability continues to be omitted from conversations around social justice. Annamma and Morrison (2018) assert that racism and intersections with other oppressions are contributing factors to the dysfunctional education ecologies and states that they can be addressed by drawing from a Dis/ability Critical Race Studies lens. With this lens, ineffective systems of practice can be identified and disrupted. Equally important to add, are that attitudes and responses that are deficit-based and negative toward students with dis/abilities can foster anxiety and fear. Inevitably, these can impede any kind of learning. Emotions of negativity, as Posey (2019) states “…can taint perception, motivation, and subsequent learning” (p. 77). Several participants in my study expressed that students with dis/abilities that experience negative interactions with instructors (e.g. denying accommodations, questioning disability, and unwelcoming to name a few) left students feeling demoralized, undermined, and unsupported.
Students are protected by law, deserve to be nothing less than encouraged and supported, but that is an injustice and disservice to students seeking opportunity through an education. And yes, that is my biased/non-researcher voice in that prior statement.
Admittedly, the majority of my participants are very familiar with dis/ability and advocating for this population. Perhaps the voices and the stories in my data are from advocates like myself. That said, with my love for my little brother, the years of work at a local nonprofit serving teens and adults with developmental disabilities, and the research findings that have emerged thus far, everything resonates with what I already knew.
When considering what practices are available that can benefit students that have been historically marginalized, such as students with hidden disabilities, I was advised to “look into” UDL. I had sent out a “cry” to the UDL community in a UDL Twitter chat and was welcomed with open arms. Since then, I have had the pleasure to meet and get to know such wonderful experts, consultants, educators, and researchers in the field. As a result of these contacts with the UDL community, I continued to learn about this design framework. The first book I read that provided me with a thorough understanding of UDL is Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice by Anne Meyer, David H. Rose, and David Gordon. Next I purchased and explored a book that was recently published around that time by editors Seán Bracken and Katie Novak called Transforming Higher Education through Universal Design for Learning. These were foundational and are often cited in my dissertation thus far. UDL is often misunderstood as a supplement for struggling students, specifically students with dis/abilities. UDL provides access, yes. However, it is notable to mention that is just one of the multitude of facets within the UDL framework. The objectives of UDL are to foster expert learners. These are learners that can be resourceful, strategic, and adaptable – all qualities learners need in the “classroom” but also in life when they serve the community and when circumstances get “gritty.” These qualities have elements of vulnerability, resiliency, and fortitude. Learners knowing that even on hard days, better ones are ahead.
This paradigm shift of UDL disrupts notions of unable or incompetent, ableism, ageism, basically all social constructs and systemic conditioning. Instead, it honors variability by focusing on growth-oriented mindsets, innovation, and collaboration. Like Annamma et al. (2013) explain with the “/” in “dis/ability,” it is an effort to raise awareness around this deficit-based understanding and misconception of people with dis/abilities. Additionally, this makes me think of Michelle Obama’s (2018) memoir, she says “It’s all a process … requires equal parts patience and rigor … never giving up on the idea that there’s more growing to be done” (p.419). Here is an additional golden nugget that fits with all of this quite nicely. From her autobiography:
Let’s invite one another in. Maybe then we can begin to fear less, to make fewer wrong assumptions, to let go of the biases and stereotypes that unnecessarily divide us. Maybe we can better embrace the ways we are the same. It’s not about being perfect. It’s not about where you get yourself in the end. There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice. And there’s grace in being willing to know and hear others. This, for me, is how we become. (p. 420)
As we continue to brave this pandemic together, we are all living through unique challenges and depending on our circumstances, privileges. How are we collaborating with one another during this time to provide educational experiences with a lens of equity-mindedness? Attitudes of entitlement, ableism, inequitable, and inaccessible educational sources are some of the issues that have come into the light. How are we challenging limiting beliefs during this time? What about all the time? Has this pandemic changed how we receive one another? For the better? Is it “in the spirit of collaboration” (quoting our governor over here in California)?
There is nothing we can do about this pandemic and the mandates that are in place, other than to follow them for the safety of ourselves, others in our homes, and for a quicker stabilization to the normalcy we were once acquainted with. As I choose my “inquiries” carefully, I have taken it upon myself to challenge educators that find these online environments as barriers to their teaching with questions such as “is this disabling for you?” And, “these barriers you now face, would you say that they parallel to environments, curriculum, assessment, and other educational avenues that may be ‘disabling’ for the variability of learners?” Maybe not the best approach, but you gotta wedge minds open somehow. This mindset and paradigm shift is part of the necessary inclusive and proactive approaches that are essential, like “equity-mindedness,” in order to create change and provide equitable education in terms of access, engagement, learning, and foster overall student success.
In my research study, a research subject recognizes that some educators may have a level of comfort associated with “fixed” practices, yet may perceive their methods to be effective for learners because learners are not saying anything about it. This may be due to a variety of reasons, such as; fear of retaliation, or challenging an expert or authority, or maybe perhaps because the students themselves do not necessarily know what they need to be successful in their learning.
… people that are very set in their curriculum but don’t want to change things that have been doing it the same way or comfortable with it the same way. Um, think that it’s working really well for everybody because they don’t get feedback otherwise. Um, so I mean, people don’t like change and people don’t like being told what they’re doing isn’t helping people. Um, so I think that that you’re going to get faculty that are really excited about it because they want to do the best they can for their students. And then other faculty that think they already are doing the best they can for their students and they don’t need to change anything.
A handful of my participants described educators making statements such as “why change now? I’ve been doing this for 30 years.” Another interviewee said “20 years” when describing a faculty member, “35 years” was another example, and you get the point. This notion of getting out of your comfort zone to help others reminds me of The Call to Courage on Netflix, where Brené Brown discusses choosing courage over comfort. In the Introduction of her book Dare to Lead, Brown writes:
People are opting out of vital conversations about diversity and inclusivity because they fear looking wrong, saying something wrong, or being wrong. Choosing our own comfort over hard conversations is the epitome of privilege, and it corrodes trust and moves us away from meaningful and lasting change. (p. 9)
Perhaps people do not know their practices are not effective, because no one is saying anything. Although, it can also be a resistance to change because they are comfortable. That is a limitation and a limiting belief that, like Brown (2018) says “… moves us away from meaningful and lasting change” (p. 9).
Among these limiting beliefs as they relate to practice, are those within the beliefs of UDL itself. An emerging theme from the interviews was that UDL is associated with disability services and students with disabilities. That is an assumption. For instance, a participant spoke of having a student that was hard of seeing but could not read braille because they were diabetic and had neuropathy and as a result could not feel the braille. This example of a student hard of seeing with the assumption that they can read braille with their fingers is not designing with variability that undoubtedly exists. Even braille, which can be considered an accommodation, is an example of a one-size-fits all and in this example was not the best approach to reaching this learner. As a different participant shared in the study “… nothing’s going to capture everything, right? There’s no one best that fits all. But having a broad [set] of policies, procedures, methodology, pedagogy in place that captures the broadest amount of people in learning styles ‘fill in the blank’ as possible.” Flexible and adaptable, the framework of UDL lends opportunities for the design of materials and practices that accounts for the most variable needs.
Whatever you want to call it: UDL, culturally-responsive, equity-mindedness, courageous cultures, inclusivity, diversity, variability – we have the opportunity to collaborate, be courageous, and co-construct change. “Own the story and you get to write the ending. Deny the story and it owns you” (Brown, 2018, p. 270). No one planned for this pandemic and this is our story, our reality. Are we owning this? Or is it owning us? This pandemic, whether personally, socially, in education, in our respective professions, is offering us collectively an opportunity to write a brave new ending. When this subsides and we reflect back, did we own our story? Or did it own us? As I continue to work from home and finish this dissertation, I invite you to join me in owning this predicament for a better ending together. My invitation encourages you to invite others to do the same.
References
Annamma, S., Connor, D., & Ferri, B. (2013). Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit): Theorizing at the intersections of race and dis/ability. Race Ethnicity and Education, 16(1), 1-31.
Annamma, S., & Morrison, D. (2018). DisCrit Classroom Ecology: Using praxis to dismantle dysfunctional education ecologies. Teaching and Teacher Education, 73, 70-80.
Barber, P. (2012). College students with disabilities: What factors influence successful degree completion? A case study. Disability and work: Research report. New Jersey: John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutger’s University, and the Kessler Foundation. http://www.heldrich.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/products/uploads/College_Students_ Disabilities_Report.pdf
Baynton, D. (2001). Disability and the justification of inequality in American history. P.K. Longmore & L. Umansky (eds). The New Disability History: American perspectives. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Bolourian, Y., Zeedyk, S., & Blacher, M. (2018). Autism and the University Experience: Narratives from Students with Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(10), 3330-3343.
Brown, Brené. (2018). Dare to lead: Brave work, tough conversations, whole hearts. Penguin Random House LLC.
Center for Urban Education. (2020, January 9). Equity Mindedness. Retrieved from https://cue.usc.edu/about/equity/equity-mindedness/).
Liasidou, A. (2014). Critical disability studies and socially just change in higher education. British Journal of Special Education, 41(2), 120-135.
Obama, Michelle. (2018). Becoming. Penguin Random House LLC.
Posey, Allison. (2019). Engage the Brain: How to Design for Learning That Taps into the Power of Emotion. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
